As all India rejoices over beating the old enemy to win a place in Saturday’s World Cup final against Sri Lanka, there does not appear to be much room in the national mood to acknowledge the two South Africans who are part of the success story: coach Gary Kirsten and his assistant, Eric Simons.
Kirsten steps down after this World Cup, a year off beckoning following the three spent doing the job as a commuter from South Africa. In that time India have become the No 1 Test team and been among the top three one-day sides, winning six of their past seven bilateral series.
A win on Saturday at the refurbished Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai would be a very satisfying conclusion to his adventure.
Kirsten always seemed destined to become a coach. He was an acolyte of Duncan Fletcher and you could sense the analysis and hard work that went into his batting during his long career.
Both those attributes are the cornerstones of coaching, and both have improved India as a side. Kirsten was born too late to do national service in South Africa but you would not know it from his calm, disciplined demeanour.
India have certainly become a more professional unit under his regime with captain MS Dhoni. That process began under predecessor Greg Chappell when he dismissed Sourav Ganguly, an autocratic captain who preferred batting and leisure to the grunt work most modern teams undertake.
Kirsten, who averaged more than 40 in Test and one-day cricket for South Africa, relishes physical work but he also likes to pay heed to detail, a logical conclusion perhaps for a man who relaxes by running and reading.
India look a good fielding side, something you would have been pushed to say about them previously, and on that front they match Sri Lanka. Just that improvement has made a team of all the talents that much harder to beat, though beyond that Kirsten has not interfered too much, which is no easy thing for a coach trying to make his mark.
He did help to secure the services of Eric Simons, a former team-mate and coach at Western Province and his former coach for South Africa.
Simons, who acts as bowling consultant, is another heavily influenced by Fletcher. Indeed, the due care and attention was apparent in Mohali the other night, when India’s bowlers, less talented than their Pakistan counterparts, nonetheless triumphed because of better plans and field settings.
The duel in Mumbai could be distilled down to India’s largely orthodox batsmen against Sri Lanka’s maverick bowlers. Overseeing Sri Lanka will also be two foreign coaches, the Australians Trevor Bayliss and his assistant, Stuart Law.
Unlike Kirsten, Bayliss did not play international cricket but he was a useful middle-order batsman for New South Wales and a superb fielder. He will, however, be joining Kirsten in bidding farewell to his team after the final, his four-year stint as Tom Moody’s successor at an end.
He and Law, who did manage the odd game for Australia, preach that basic of Australian sport, aggression, something that has typified Sri Lanka recently, whether batting, bowling or fielding.
Another aggressive character, Chaminda Vaas has joined the squad following injury to Angelo Mathews while Suraj Randiv has flown from Colombo as cover for Muttiah Muralitharan, who is struggling with a hamstring strain.
Murali, who already looks 10 months into retirement after cultivating a paunch, will surely play, however inconvenienced. He knows you are a long time retired and that this is one final chance of glory.
Bayliss would not risk playing him on one leg if he was just a regular member of the team but Murali can still change the course of games even if not with the same certainty of old.
“The chances of Murali playing are good,” Bayliss said on Thursday. “He came through and bowled his 10 overs in the semi-final. He has pulled up a little bit stiff and sore. But with the character of the man and his will to want to win another World Cup, I wouldn’t be surprised if he played.”
That other Australian trait Bayliss has demonstrated is to keep picking away at something in the opponent in the hope that it finally gets to them. In this case, it is the pressure of India playing at home, which appeared to affect most of the team in the semi-final against Pakistan bar Virender Sehwag, who cut and carved with his usual gleeful abandon.
“There is a lot of pressure on India to perform,” stressed Bayliss. “We have been able to perform in this World Cup and the boys are quite confident that we can take them on and win.”
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